Friday, July 29, 2011

Last Friday of July....

As in WOW, where has this summer gone? We've had a wonderful summer for the most part, started off with a fabulous spring (and we often get no spring here!) and some heat, but all in all, it's not been bad. We had some rain yesterday and last night. I'll post some storm pictures at the bottom of my post.
I was going through all my stuff in my quilting room the other week or so ago. I put UFO's together and made sure that all the parts to finish were there, I put patterns and kits together so I'd know where to go to get a new project. And in some bags I put the extra blocks from many of the quilts I've made in the past. From bargello's, to paper pieced to 4 patches to 9 patches and on! I have a ton of extra blocks. And they are all different sizes. Sooooooooo I decided to make a Memory Quilt.... a quilt that holds the memories of many of the quilts I've made and given away. First I had to decide how many blocks or at least what size block. I decided a 12.5" block (finishes at 12") would be a very good size. I have a few of those sized blocks, so the first few blocks are already made. :) Then I started taking blocks and strips and cutting and sewing and turning some of those small blocks into 12.5" blocks. I'm not nearly done, but I wanted to post what I have done. I think it's going to be very cool. :)

This is the first one I made. I made a queen size quilt from blocks like this, string quilt is what it was called. It was huge and heavy since I used muslin as the foundation. I gave that quilt to the Mennonites and they sent it off to someone in need. I had a blast making that quilt! Used up a lot of scraps too.

This is all black. It's from the very first class I ever took at Quilt University. It was the Fireworks class by Helen Marshall. This black was my sky for that particular quilt.

This was a bargello that I made, and I don't remember who it went to! But it's no longer living in my house. But then, I've done a ton of bargellos, so I'm not surprised that I have forgotten one or two of them!

This little nine patch was from a Nine Patch Pizazzz that I made a couple of years ago.
The quilt is long sent away to someone back east!!
Originally that flowered material was used to make a warm up jacket for me for work. I have been using the left over scraps for a couple of years now! When I bought fabric back in the 80's and 90's, it was pretty cheap, and I'd go to the discount tables and buy 5 yards or 10 yards of something I liked if it were cheap enough! And back then was 2$ a yard or so on sale. Wish that I'd have been quilting back then!

This was my spring bargello strata from a class at Quilt University, Bargello Season's with instructor Ruth Blanchet. It was a great class, Ruth is a fabulous instructor, I highly recommend any of her classes!

This is a paper pieced square. I made a kind sized quilt from these, love doing them, soooooo easy! I made like 120 of these blocks over about 6 months. I had it long arm quilted last spring, and have yet to get the binding put on! The quilt is huge and many of the center blocks are fussy cut, love the quilt!

Isn't this fun, I have tons more blocks, probably enough to do 3 or 4 quilts like this if I feel like it.... I'll have to see after the first 12 blocks are done! But it's really easy and the math is not all that bad!

I made another mug rug yesterday! I love these things. And yet I haven't made one for me yet.
I have one more made but not bound, will get that done today or over the weekend.

This is my Sugar, she's my thunder phobic greyhound. And she's in a panic right here, poor girl has been in a panic for weeks. At least she was out of my closet for a while. It just makes me so sad when she's shaking and shivering and so terrified.

A couple of pics from the wind, dust and rain storm yesterday. You can see how the wind is blowing things around, the bird feeder is swinging!

And here is looking across my back pasture, the dust is here and the rain is not far behind!
It's over cast today, which keeps the temps down, but we are waiting for rain, and according to Sugar, it's not too far away!